Electric-lamp socket.



F. P. GATES.

ELECTRIC LAMP SOCKET.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 20. my.

1 ,2? 5, 5 1. 6 I 1 Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

Co, or rronn, CONNECTICUT, A conrona'rion or CONNECTICUT.

ELECTRIC-LAMP SOCKET.

aero ic.

ToaZZ whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, FREDERIG P. GATES, a citizen of the United residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric-Lamp in is a speci cation.

y present invention relates'to electric lamp sockets and particularly to porcelain or weather-proofsockets, the object of my invention being to provide novel fastening means between the cap and body sections and also to provide a novel construction of the body portion by reason of which improvements a more perfect adjustment of the socket switch operating means to a surrounding husk may be accomplished and the expense of manufacture of the socket as a whole decreased.

Referring to the accompanying drawinfgs,

Figure l is a broken side elevation o a socket in which my invention is embodied in one form;

Fig. 2 is a cross section through the socket cap detached;

Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of the latter;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective of cooperating portions of the latching elements oi the cap and body;

Fig. 5 is a plan of the body casing;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section therethrough;

Fig. 7 is a plan of the body casing'and interior assembled;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the body casing showing the interior in place; and

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the assembled socket, broken away to illustrate the wiring of the interior mechanism.

- In porcelain sockets it has heretofore been customary to so construct the latter that the cap and shell body portions thereof can be assembled in only one predetermined relative position, the union between the parts bein secured by means of screw bolts. This has been the source of considerable annoyance since where the socket is of the switched type it frequently occurs that the switch operating device, such as the socket key, pull chain or the like, is located in an incon venient or inaccessible position. This necessitates the filing down of the securing thim- I ble or some equally troublesome operation to lengthen or shorten the extent of the threads Specification of Letters Patent. Paptgnted Aug, Application filed March 20, 1917. Serial no. wanes.

States of America, and

Sockets, of which the-follow,

ac, rare;

so that the switch operating member maybe brought to a convenientposition for actuation.

By the present invention, I have eliminated this difficulty by providing the cap and body portions of the socket with latchr. earns, or nnn'rro, connncrrcu'r, assrcnon'ro ARW ntncrarc mg .means which inter-en a e I in various relative rotary positions "0 t e parts. As will be observed from the accompanying drawing the socket comprises a porcelain cap 10 and a porcelain body 11. The cap 10 carries the usual metal bushing 12 through lugs 13 and securing screws '14 by means of which bushing the socket is attached to a wire conduit or an equivalent through which the wires are led to the socket terminals.

Within the skirt 15 of the cap I arrange a metal ring 16 having a apertures 17 therein, and being provided on opposite sides with up-standing angled lugs 18 through which "pass securing screws 19 which take into nuts 20 counter-sunk in the upper face of the cap and overlaid by the metal cover 21.

x The body 11 of the casing has at its upper .into nuts overlying the flanges 26. The

latching ring 23 is slotted at 28 to permit the passage of the chain bell 29 therethrough, and a wing 30 is extended downward from the ring at one margin of the slot to permit the latch elements24 located at this portion of the ring to be pressed out of engagement with the aperture 17 in the locking ring 16 of the cap, whereupon the cap and body casing may be separated by atilting motion imparted to the cap. The wing piece 30 may conveniently be located in a recess 31 formed in the upper margin of the casing 11 to receive it.

Within'the body 11 is arranged the socket interior carrying the wire terminals, and also the switch terminals where the socket is provided with a switch. This member of the socket is shown in side elevation in Fig. 8 and comprises a pair of insulating buttons 32 and 33 spaced apart by standards .34 and series of latching 5*- "as i so end a shoulder 22 upon which rests a cono element in my invention, is therefore not described in detail, since it 15 wellknown. it will be noted that the upper button 33 is provided with a shoulder 3? which rests upon and is supported by the upper edge oi the body 11. It is held against rotation by the engagement of the chain bell 29 in the slot 38 formed in the casting 11 to accommodate it. If desired, supplementary lugs 39 may be provided beneath the shoulder 37 to take into recesses d0 formed in the upper edge of the body casing and lying Within the latching ring 23. Perforations ell and Q12 in the button 33 afford space passages through which the wires are led to the terminals 3% and 35, and serve not only to lreep the wires from each other, but alsoto prevent them from coming into contact with the latching ring 23. The recess 43 is provided to prevent obstruction to the adjacent portion of the latching ring 523 when the latter is pressed out of engagement with ring 16 by depressing the wing 30.,

While I have shown my invention pplie o a pull 'soclret it will be readily understoo 1 it is equally applicable to hey sock 3 or to one in which the switch mechanism 's operated by a push-through plunger, or to one in which there is no switch at all, and I therefore do not limit my invention to the precise structure shown or to the details of arrangement which may be readily modified by those skilled in the art without depart ing from what l claim is my invention.

Furthermore, the porcelain cap may be omitted and the body portion la tched with a rosette having cooperating latching devices, or with any other device having cooperating latching members, and in 'the following claims I employ the term cap in a sense broad enough to cover any such device. Similarly, the insulation need not be porcelain, but may be of any suitable material or composition, and I use the term porcelain in the following claims in a sense broad enough to cover any insulating material.

I claim as my invention 1. An electric lamp socket comprising a casing having independent cap and body members of insulating material and latching means for securing the same together in sub stantially any relative rotary position of the parts, and serving to hold the same together against endwise separation and relative rotary displacement, said latching means comprising metallic elements secured to said cap and shell members and wholly inclosed in the assembled position or the parts,

2. An electric lamp so casing having independ members of insulating material and latching means for securing the same together in substantially any relative rotary position of the parts, and serving to hold the same together against endwise separation and relative rotary displacement, sai l latching means comprising metallic elements secured to said cap and shell members and Wholly inclosed in the assembled position of the parts, the latching element for the shell member comprising a spring ring secured to the shell member at one end thereof and exterior thereto.

3. An electric lamp socket comprising casing havin independent cap and body members of insulating material and latching means for securing the same together in substantially any relative rotary position oi the parts, and serving to hold the same together against endwise separation and relative rotary displacement, said latching means comprising metallic elements secured to said cap and shell members and Wholly inclosed in the assembled position of the parts, the latching element for the shell member comprising a spring ring secured to the shell member at one end thereof and exterior thereto, said spring ring having outwardly projecting lugs, and the shell member having corresponding bosses to receive said lugs, and means engaging the same for holding the spring ring in position.

i. An electric lamp socket comprising body and cap members sleeved together in assembled relation and having cooperating latching means within the sleeving area to prevent endwise separation or relative rotary displacement of the parts, the body member being of insulating material and the latching element thereon having the form of a metallic spring ring secured thereto and capable of deflection adjacent certain of the latching elements to tree the latter for the purpose described.

5. An electric lamp socket comprising body and cap members, and coeperating latching members thereon sleeving into each other and having means for securing the body and cap members together in substantially any relative rotary position thereof, one of said latching members having the form of a split ring, the end of which may be sprung to free certain o1 the latching elements thereon from the cooperating latch ing member, together with a tongue at said ring end projecting out of the sleeving area of the parts into position for manipulation.

6. An electric lamp socket comprising an insulating casing having independent capand shell members sleeved together in assembled position, together with multi-catch latching elements carried by said cap and shell within said sleeving area and concealed in assembled position togethe th 1 luv on one of said menace said sleeving area into exposed position to facilitate the disengagement of said latching elements, said lug lying within the area of the casing members and out of danger of accidental contact therewith.

7. An electric lamp socket comprising a casing having independent cap and shell members, said shell member being of. insulating material and having a sleeving engagement with the cap member, said shell having at its sleeving end a metallic latching element with lug projecting out of the sleeving area of the cap and shell members to facilitate the disengagement of the latching elements, said shell element being recessed to afford access to said lug.

8. An electric lamp socket comprising an insulating casing having independent cap and shell members sleeved together in assembled position, together with multi-catch latching elements carried by said cap and shell within said sleeving area and concealed in assembled position, together with means.

accessible in said assembled position for disengaging said latching elements to permit the casing members to be separated.

9. An electric lamp socket comprising a porcelain casing having cap and shell members, the shell member having an external ledge at the cap end thereof and a metallic latching ring mounted on said ledge to engage a cooperating latching element on the cap, together with an independent porcelain interior socket body having an external supporting shoulder adapted to rest upon the cap end of the shell member and ledge at the cap end thereof and a metallic latching ring mounted on said ledge to engage a cooperating latching element on the cap together with an independent porcelain interior socket body having an external supporting shoulder adapted to rest npon the cap end of the shell member and within the area of said latching ring, said body being pierced at one end to aiiord wire channel serving to hold the leading-in wires of the socket at spaced distance from the latching ring. I

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

L. SHINE,- R. D. HEYMANN. 

